Zach Bryan’s ex-girlfriend Brianna LaPaglia accuses him of emotional abuse, trying to silence her with NDA: What we know

What we know — and what we don’t — about their relationship, breakup and NDA claims.

Country singer Zach Bryan’s ex-girlfriend Brianna LaPaglia, a Barstool Sports personality, claims he was emotionally abusive during their yearlong relationship. (Getty Images)

Zach Bryan’s ex-girlfriend Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia has accused him of emotional abuse.

The influencer made that claim — and more — against the Grammy-winning country music star on her BFFs podcast on Nov. 7. LaPaglia’s accusation came just over two weeks after Bryan, 28, announced their breakup on Instagram on Oct. 22, which left LaPaglia feeling “blindsided.” The couple had been dating since July 2023.

“The last year of my life has been the hardest year of my life dealing with the abuse from this dude,” the 25-year-old told her Barstool Sports co-hosts Dave Portnoy and Josh Richards.

LaPaglia, who said she is “still scared” of the “I Remember Everything” singer, also claimed he and his team offered her $12 million to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) preventing her from discussing the relationship, which ended last month in an explosive fashion.

A representative for Bryan has not yet responded to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment.

LaPaglia details alleged ‘narcissistic, emotional abuse,’ NDAs on podcast

The podcast host claimed that she endured “narcissistic, emotional abuse” for a year before they split, saying it was a cycle of “build you up, beat you down, apologize — over and over and over.” She also claimed that he became angry with her for singing a Morgan Wallen song and for what she wore to the 2024 Golden Globes.

LaPaglia said she feels she was love bombed by the singer. After four happy months together, he “isolated me from my whole entire life” and made “me feel like he was all I had left.” She said he “just kept repeatedly beating me down” to the point where it “made me hate everything that I loved about myself.”

LaPaglia and Bryan at the 66th Grammy Awards in February. (John Shearer/Getty Images for the Recording Academy)

She said Bryan “manipulated the f*** out of me,” adding, “I don’t expect people to understand emotional abuse if you haven’t been through it, and I hope you never have to go through it, but if you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about.”

LaPaglia claimed that there “was always another excuse as to why he was treating me so poorly and why I’m crying myself to sleep every night. Why he’s screaming at me. And then you wake up [and] it’s the apology. It’s the, ‘I’m going to be better. … I need you in my life.’”

She said his “f***ing crazy” behavior started after she went to the Golden Globes in January and he “didn’t like” her dress. She said he told her he “didn’t want to date someone that presents themselves that way.” She claimed that he started to try to control things she posted on social media.

She also claimed that Bryan “freaked the f*** out” when she sang a line from the Wallen song “Last Night,” which was stuck in her head. They were home and she was about to make breakfast when she casually sang the lyric (“Last night we let the liquor talk…”), which she said left him irate.

“‘You’re singing another man’s song under my roof, in this house that I own,’” she claimed he yelled at her. They were in a fight for “a week” over it.

On the topic of NDAs, LaPaglia claimed that in Bryan’s past relationships, he had exes sign legal agreements preventing them from publicly discussing their experiences with him. (Bryan was previously married to Rose Madden from 2020 to 2021.) LaPaglia said he and his team offered her one — promising $12 million over three years and a New York apartment. She said she thought about it and made the decision not to sign.

LaPaglia claims that Bryan was upset about the dress she wore to the Golden Globes in January. (Kevin Winter/GA/Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)

“I don’t want, in two years, to buy a f***ing house and think, ‘Oh, this is the money from the dude that literally f***ing destroyed me and broke me for a year.’ F*** that.'”

She insisted it “isn’t a drama thing” for her. “This isn’t me not signing the NDA … because I wanna get on here and expose who he is and his secrets and all that shit. I didn’t take the money because I’m not signing away my experiences and what I went through to protect someone that hurt me and I’m a lot stronger than a weak man. F*** you, f*** your money.”

LaPaglia was previously ‘blindsided’ by their breakup, which was messy

The exes met at the Academy of Country Music Awards in May 2023. In July 2023, LaPaglia — whose nickname is Chickenfry, stemming from a comment about her legs — said on her podcast that they had been dating for three weeks.

The pair moved in together in spring 2024, according to Us Weekly. Fast-forward to October when screenshots of DMs Bryan allegedly sent to other women on Raya, the celebrity dating app, went viral.

Shortly after, on Oct. 22, Bryan shared on Instagram that he and LaPaglia had split, writing, “I respect and love her with every ounce of my heart” and that “She has loved me unconditionally for a very long time and for that I’ll always thank her.”

Bryan also wrote that he had an “incredibly hard year personally and struggled through some pretty severe things,” noting, “I am not perfect and never will be.”

LaPaglia then posted to her Instagram Stories that she felt “blindsided” by Bryan’s post when she was trying to “heal privately” from their split.

She followed up with a YouTube video reiterating she was “completely blindsided” by Bryan announcing the breakup, saying he gave her no warning he was going to share the news publicly.

“See how swollen my face is? I’ve been crying for like five days straight,” she said. “I’m at the point where it’s like, how can you give someone everything and love them so unconditionally — like through stuff that you shouldn’t, but you just love them and you just see the good in them — like how can you … give every ounce of yourself to someone and then be discarded of in a few days? It’s really, really heartbreaking.”

LaPaglia’s BFFs co-hosts Portnoy and Richards released a diss track about Bryan titled “Smallest Man.” According to Portnoy, Bryan’s record label, Warner Records, issued takedown requests over it and he plans to rerecord it and rerelease it.

LaPaglia said on the podcast that Bryan blocked her on social media.

Bryan in the news

The Oklahoma-raised singer got his start sharing music on YouTube. He released his debut album, DeAnn, in 2019 followed by Elisabeth in 2020. After signing with Warner Records, he released two more albums, including his 2023 Zach Bryan, for which he won the Best Country Song Grammy Award for “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves.

In September 2023, Bryan was arrested in Oklahoma for obstruction of investigation after he and an officer exchanged a few words while his security guard was being pulled over. He apologized to law enforcement.

In September 2024, Bryan issued another apology after “drunkenly” tweeting that Kanye West was better than Taylor Swift.

While he has been posting lots of things on Instagram, he has yet to respond to LaPaglia’s claims.